Hubby and I wanted to add on to our house as it is less than a mile from the new apple building and…read morewe thought it was a great investment. We were referred to a different architect initially and when I described my vision she asked "Do you expect this to be a free service?" Yikes. no ma'am, but I did expect it to be a fun and exciting process. So I started looking. And looking. Annnnd looking. When I came across Chris and Gina's web site, I knew I had found 'my' people. Fun, whimsical, one-of-a-kind, not mass production. When we spoke, we were disheartened that they advised us the cost to add on far exceeded the value added at resale. Wow! What a stark and wonderful contrast to the other folks. If we ever do need an architect, there is no one else I would consider.

Some Assembly Required is awesome! Nearly 8 years ago they designed an amazing addition and…read morereconfiguration of my 1950 cottage style home, I absolutely love everything about the transformation. Bonus: working with Chris and Gina is the best! If you're considering making changes to your house, or looking at purchasing a house that might be great with a little (or a lot) of a tweak, Chris and Gina will be an invaluable asset and worth every penny. They made the process fun, and the house is a perfect fit for my needs, even as those needs have changed over time.

Austin has a lot of talented designers but Element 5 is a favorite of ours for lots of reasons…read more Nick and his team are true professionals. Our collaborations on specs and customs always produce amazing results. Architecture is form and function and Element 5 nails both. They are multi-faceted, excelling at infill and suburban/rural design-build, modern and craftsman. Element 5 does a great job of keeping up with rapidly changing trends, building code, and green building/building science. Their expertise, passion, and thoughtful design always makes for great projects that serve our homeowners well. Element 5 always does a good job listening to and incorporating their client's feedback. They aim to understand how the client really lives in their home and their lifestyle.

My wife and I worked with Nick Mehl at Element 5 on the design of our new 4BR / 3BA house. Nick was…read moregreat to work with, very thoughtful and full of great ideas, like using the space under our stairs to make the pantry space in our kitchen as large as possible. He also paid very close attention to detail, like how the window trim should be framed and communicated his vision clearly with our builder. This house construction project was the largest personal expense I've ever incurred and so many things could have gone wrong at multiple points along the way. None of them did, and I give Nick & Element 5 much of the credit for our success.

After several positive experiences with other GC's, we decided to try Urban Home Builders because…read moreour normal GC was not available for our backyard remodel/landscaping. After a consultation with Gary, it became apparent he could not read our landscape architects' plans and was quick to lay fault on said plans. The lack of comprehension and professionalism swayed us to wait until our GC was available, sometimes you have to be smart and know when to say 'No'.

We contracted with Urban Home Builders and Gary Zygmont for a complete renovation of our 1940's…read morecottage. This was no run-of-the-mill job ... Gary and his team took our house down to the studs, destroyed and rebuilt the back 1/3 of the house to replace a crappy patio foundation that had been closed in at some point by previous owners, and added a second level. From the get-go, we had a stellar experience with Gary. During our introductory meeting, he spent as much time as we needed talking with us about our project, his process, and the way he does business, and did an exceptional job of setting our expectations up front. His ballpark estimate was right in line with the other bid we obtained, which immediately gave us confidence in his estimating. We signed with him without hesitation. About a month before the project was set to start, I realized I had completely lost my mind ... it was a *terrible* idea to move out of my home for 7 months. I was too chicken to call Gary on the phone, so I sent him an email telling him that I thought we should delay the project for at least 6 months because I just couldn't deal with it. Like the best therapist, Gary listened with compassion and then broke down my monumental, paralyzing mountain of stuff that had to be accomplished into its most basic elements. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but you're almost done with the hard work," he told us. He sent a list of what we needed to do, with deadlines (this is something he did countless times during the project, which was great!), and helped me get a grip. Much to my husband's relief, the project proceeded as planned. Did I mention that we expected to be out of our home for 7 months? Gary finished almost 2 months early. How? In my opinion, it's because he respects and watches out for his subs, and they return the favor by moving mountains to get stuff done for him. It was truly a joy to watch -- at one point during the project, one of our neighbors remarked that there were almost always people at our house, and they were *always* working. Speaking of our neighbors, living next to a project like ours can be a nightmare. Gary walked the neighborhood before the project started, talked with our neighbors about what to expect, and left letters with each neighbor with his personal contact information. I know of two times during the project when neighbors had complaints ... in both cases, Gary immediately -- and very diplomatically -- addressed them. Now that we're back in our gorgeous "new" home and we've paid the last bill, Gary's level of service hasn't faltered a bit. We've reached out to him with a couple questions and issues, and he has responded immediately, reached out to subs or vendors as necessary, and obtained exactly the "fixes" we believe are necessary - at no cost to us. The workmanship throughout our home is absolutely gorgeous, and the materials are of excellent quality and exactly as specified by us and our architect. He even added a number of "Gary-isms," such as rebuilding a fence for us (not in the contract -- we had planned to have him reinstall the old fence) because it faces the street and the old fence would have looked terrible against our shiny house. I can't recommend Gary and Urban Home Builders enough.

We built a custom 750-square-foot pool house with McKay Vassaur Custom Builders. Our criteria were…read moreto match the pool house to the existing main structure and blend the new building into the landscape and pool area. Jeff Vassaur helped us take an idea and a dirt backyard, turning it into a dream mother's suite. The team at McKay Vassaur helped us navigate design, permitting, material selection, and the construction process. Jeff was always there to keep us informed and provide innovative solutions to the obstacles that occur throughout any construction process. We have designed and built several homes, but McKay Vassaur is the best builder we have ever worked with. Jeff and his team are the best because they are available, communicative, professional, and produce an amazing product. Thank you, McKay Vassaur, and thank you, Jeff.

My wife and I have been speaking with Jeff, the owner, for over a year and a half working through…read moreplanning, ideas, and asking every question we could think of when building a home. Let me start by first saying that Jeff and his organization are world class! We spoke to and toured every home builder in the area, even speaking with builders from outside of the CTX area, and let me tell you that the quality of our home, the speed in Jeff's ability to answer questions, solve problems, and his knowledge have not only been amazing but truly a blessing to our family. His pride and attention to detail shines through every portion of our home. From start to finish, and even small things needing to be taken care of through warranty have been absolutely seamless. Probably one of the hardest things we dealt with when speaking to other builders was them taking the time to actually listen to what we were looking for, this is not the case with Jeff. He addressed all of our questions leaving zero doubts in our mind that we were always aligned. Jeff is undoubtedly one of the kindest, honest, and transparent people we have met, and his team is truly amazing. You would be doing yourself a huge disservice by not contacting McKay Vassaur Custom Builders for your home build or remodel. Thank you, Jeff, for building our dream home and making us feel like family from day one!

We started working with Dennis updating our first home in New York back in 2003. Since then there…read morehave been a number of projects, including the final renovation of my house in Westchester that wound up selling for 20k more than asking in an all cash deal in December 2011. When it came time to renovate our new home in the Netherlands, a 100-year old four-story house that hadn't been updated in forty years, there was no question that we would ask him to help us. Dennis is easy to work with and quick to suggest creative ideas to atypical problems (like those in the aforementioned, weird 100 year old house). His office is international, fully digitally integrated and we were pleased with the exchange of information that flowed quickly from his office to our desk. I would recommend Dennis to anyone who is looking for a talented, responsive, and affordable architect.

Dennis did a little side project for our house and it has been amazing. We have a weirdly shaped…read morechimney that does not have a damper. We have looked into getting a damper, but it is extremely costly due the its custom nature. Dennis built us a cover that slides into the fireplace and covers the chimney so that air doesn't come in/out and cause us to lose money on HVAC. Dennis did an amazing job and the price was excellent.

Good details and lovely home. Helped us get to where we wanted to be. Only reason not a five is, at…read moretimes, trying to coordinate between busy schedules and missing a few "heads up" issues that we were not aware of based on our design. However, they took our "napkin" design and built us a beautiful FOREVER home.

Grand Endeavor homes was the perfect choice to build our dream home in The Preserve at Elm Creek…read more The entire process was extremely professional and the communication could not have been better. Tyler and Tricia with the sales team were instrumental in the success of the project from the start. The architectural and design teams especially Kristen at FloorKing brought our vision to life and helped our vision where it needed some help. I cannot speak highly enough about Rodney Roybal, our building supervisor who brought all of the pieces together to create our dream home. He is timely with his communication and even helped us get moved in early in order to meet our schedule for moving from out of state. I had read some horror stories about building supervisors however Rodney is a consummate professional who cares about providing families with quality workmanship and service.

I needed help updating a set of architectural drawings including kitchen layout, cabinet placement,…read moreremoving load-bearing walls, bathroom details, and electrical layout. I highly recommend Simon because of his knowledge of his craft and willingness to collaborate with me in real-time. It was refreshing and effective. Thanks again, Simon!

. I needed a covered patio added to my home. He consulted and a plan design was agreed upon. He…read moregave an estimate and price for the job. His work and knowledge is beyond reproach. He arrived on time every day, and stay until work was done for the day. I made a change mid way through project and he excepted the change without a blink of the eye. Job was completed on time and in budget. Highly Recommend this company.